To ring in the New Year, I thought it would be fun to post a one-question Rick Danko quiz. The first person to answer this question correctly will receive a Rick Danko CD and an original glossy press photo.
Here's the question:
Name three people other than Bob Dylan who had a relationship with/connection to both Rick Danko and Edie Sedgwick. (Hint: The relationships/connections do not have to have been close ones, but they do have to have been real--that is, not just someone who bumped into Edie at The Factory once and also met Rick backstage at a concert or in Woodstock.)
Please send your response to me via email at carolcaffin@aol.com. The winner will be announced as soon as I have received a winning answer, but the deadline is Monday, January 5.
Put on your thinking caps! It's really not that hard...
Rick Danko
New BandBite: Online at The Band Website
Volume II of BandBites continues today with an interview that was postponed from December 10 (in honor of Rick, I was working on Danko Time) with Bill Scheele and John Scheele, both of whom were involved with The Band during a very creative but sort of "lost" era--the first half of the '70s.
I really enjoyed talking with Bill and John about the recording of Stage Fright, The Basement Tapes cover shoot, Festival Express, and more.
Please be sure to check out the interview at The Band Site "What's New" Page. The interview includes some great pics by John.
I really enjoyed talking with Bill and John about the recording of Stage Fright, The Basement Tapes cover shoot, Festival Express, and more.
Please be sure to check out the interview at The Band Site "What's New" Page. The interview includes some great pics by John.
Remembering Rick
I'm remembering and missing the world's cutest senior citizen today, on what would have been his 65th birthday.
Today, in honor of Rick, maybe you can play one of his songs--he would have liked that. Or maybe you can just wear a mismatched outfit (mixing plaids and stripes works well), blow-dry your hair without combing it, don a Members Only jacket (with the sleeves rolled up), or call a friend at 2:00 am.
Today, in honor of Rick, maybe you can play one of his songs--he would have liked that. Or maybe you can just wear a mismatched outfit (mixing plaids and stripes works well), blow-dry your hair without combing it, don a Members Only jacket (with the sleeves rolled up), or call a friend at 2:00 am.
One of My Favorite Photos of Rick Ever
There are a number of iconic photos of Rick out there, most of which are with The Band. They are iconic for a reason--they are beautifully shot, they capture a moment, an image, a piece of history, a zeitgeist.
Obviously, this is not one of those photos. It is not a stage shot. There's no bass in sight. It's in the least glamorous of settings. You can't really see Rick's face clearly. In fact, if you don't know Rick very well, you might not be able to tell that it's him.
But it is. This is one of my favorite pictures of Rick for a number of reasons. It does capture a moment--a very Rick-like moment--and that's why, 19 years later, it still warms my heart.
I took this picture in (surprise, surprise) the kitchen of a little place that Rick played a few times in a tiny little podunk town called Pipersville, PA, near Doylestown. It was an intimate coffeehouse-type of place called The Hearth, located in the middle of nowhere.
One of the many wonderful qualities--and there were many--that set Rick apart from other rock stars was his humility. Other artists playing the club circuit might have scoffed at the thought of playing small clubs, but Rick actually enjoyed it. Whether he was playing for a crowd of 30 or a crowd of 30,000, he gave it his all and was happy just to be playing for people. He didn't make comparisons between Carnegie Hall and Joe's Pub. They were different venues, different audiences--and all part of his endless journey.
This pic was taken right before the show. Rick came back into the kitchen--to check out the dessert menu, of course--while the crowd was packing into the club. He took out his guitar and decided to do an impromptu little warm-up concert for the staff, who were enthralled. I believe he was leading them through the chorus of "The Weight" here.
It was when I was first getting to know Rick and I had never seen an artist do something like that before--just so completely unassuming. His warmth, humility, and authenticity amazed me--just as much now as it did then.
Obviously, this is not one of those photos. It is not a stage shot. There's no bass in sight. It's in the least glamorous of settings. You can't really see Rick's face clearly. In fact, if you don't know Rick very well, you might not be able to tell that it's him.
But it is. This is one of my favorite pictures of Rick for a number of reasons. It does capture a moment--a very Rick-like moment--and that's why, 19 years later, it still warms my heart.
I took this picture in (surprise, surprise) the kitchen of a little place that Rick played a few times in a tiny little podunk town called Pipersville, PA, near Doylestown. It was an intimate coffeehouse-type of place called The Hearth, located in the middle of nowhere.
One of the many wonderful qualities--and there were many--that set Rick apart from other rock stars was his humility. Other artists playing the club circuit might have scoffed at the thought of playing small clubs, but Rick actually enjoyed it. Whether he was playing for a crowd of 30 or a crowd of 30,000, he gave it his all and was happy just to be playing for people. He didn't make comparisons between Carnegie Hall and Joe's Pub. They were different venues, different audiences--and all part of his endless journey.
This pic was taken right before the show. Rick came back into the kitchen--to check out the dessert menu, of course--while the crowd was packing into the club. He took out his guitar and decided to do an impromptu little warm-up concert for the staff, who were enthralled. I believe he was leading them through the chorus of "The Weight" here.
It was when I was first getting to know Rick and I had never seen an artist do something like that before--just so completely unassuming. His warmth, humility, and authenticity amazed me--just as much now as it did then.
Rick's Instruments, Equipment/Gear, Techniques, Style, Etc.
Iwant you to know that I read all your posts and comments here as well as your emails, and I will try to answer whatever I can.
I've noticed a couple of requests in the past few days for info on Rick's basses, customization of pickups, basslines, etc., so here goes.
In the early 90s, I asked Rick to give me a list of all the instruments he played, equipment he used, etc., so that I could have a technical "fact sheet" to add to his media bio on request. This was after the Bill Flanagan interview for Musician, because, in that interview, Bill asked Rick about his basses, strings, etc., and Rick called me (and I do mean during the course of the interview) to ask if I had a list of his "stuff."
Of course, I didn't--I am not a musician and have no technical background, so I would have needed Rick's input for that, and we just never went there. So, during the interview with Bill, he had to think on his feet and gave Bill a partial list--what he could remember on the spot. After the interview, he continued with me and, again, never finished. He said he would think about it all and get back to me, but it just got lost in the shuffle and the list was never completed. Still, I did get a pretty good list. I will look for it and post it here when I find it.
In the meantime, I can tell you that he did have four Rippers with different pickups. I don't know what kinds, or whether they were active or passive pickups--but I may have that written down in my list. His Ampeg fretless had jazz pickups, but that's all I know. He also had a custom hollow-body bass made by Mark Dann, who has studios in New York City and Woodstock.
That bass had an ebony fingerboard and Alembic JJ active pickups. I think his favorite bass was the one that he was given on his first trip to Norway in 1991, which was made by the Norwegian Guitar Workshop. Rick really loved that bass and played it a lot. It had a rosewood fingerboard and Alembic PJ active pickups. He liked the feel, he liked the sound--it was just right for him and the intuitive way that he played.
Another question was about Rick's basslines and harmonies. I can talk about this for hours, but Rick was truly, truly uncomfortable talking about things like his style and how he got a certain "sound," so he rarely did talk about it. He did do some "technical" interviews in which he talked about equipment and things like that, but Rick's harmonies were very intuitive and, as far as I know and as far as I can tell--at least live--he did what, in his opinion, fit. The basslines were not etched in stone and neither were his harmonies.
A fan emailed me just last week and asked me if Rick read music and I told him that though Rick did see a music teacher (according to him, three times, but it could have been one or it could have been 10) when he was a teenager, on Garth's advice, he was not a schooled musician. In Rick's case, I think that the ability to read music fluently--though I am sure he picked up tidbits over the years just through osmosis--would have been a hindrance to him, because his approach to both harmony singing and bass playing was unorthodox.
I'm sure men will roll their eyes at this analogy, but one way to think of Rick's approach to harmony is to liken it to "lowlights"--yes, as in hair coloring--as opposed to "highlights." He kind of took the opposite approach of most harmony singers--his harmonies were almost like an additional melody line, on top of the main melody line, which accounted for the melancholy vibe or, as he put it in a flustered interview response, "my queasy sound."
Hope this helps a bit...for now.
I've noticed a couple of requests in the past few days for info on Rick's basses, customization of pickups, basslines, etc., so here goes.
In the early 90s, I asked Rick to give me a list of all the instruments he played, equipment he used, etc., so that I could have a technical "fact sheet" to add to his media bio on request. This was after the Bill Flanagan interview for Musician, because, in that interview, Bill asked Rick about his basses, strings, etc., and Rick called me (and I do mean during the course of the interview) to ask if I had a list of his "stuff."
Of course, I didn't--I am not a musician and have no technical background, so I would have needed Rick's input for that, and we just never went there. So, during the interview with Bill, he had to think on his feet and gave Bill a partial list--what he could remember on the spot. After the interview, he continued with me and, again, never finished. He said he would think about it all and get back to me, but it just got lost in the shuffle and the list was never completed. Still, I did get a pretty good list. I will look for it and post it here when I find it.
In the meantime, I can tell you that he did have four Rippers with different pickups. I don't know what kinds, or whether they were active or passive pickups--but I may have that written down in my list. His Ampeg fretless had jazz pickups, but that's all I know. He also had a custom hollow-body bass made by Mark Dann, who has studios in New York City and Woodstock.
That bass had an ebony fingerboard and Alembic JJ active pickups. I think his favorite bass was the one that he was given on his first trip to Norway in 1991, which was made by the Norwegian Guitar Workshop. Rick really loved that bass and played it a lot. It had a rosewood fingerboard and Alembic PJ active pickups. He liked the feel, he liked the sound--it was just right for him and the intuitive way that he played.
Another question was about Rick's basslines and harmonies. I can talk about this for hours, but Rick was truly, truly uncomfortable talking about things like his style and how he got a certain "sound," so he rarely did talk about it. He did do some "technical" interviews in which he talked about equipment and things like that, but Rick's harmonies were very intuitive and, as far as I know and as far as I can tell--at least live--he did what, in his opinion, fit. The basslines were not etched in stone and neither were his harmonies.
A fan emailed me just last week and asked me if Rick read music and I told him that though Rick did see a music teacher (according to him, three times, but it could have been one or it could have been 10) when he was a teenager, on Garth's advice, he was not a schooled musician. In Rick's case, I think that the ability to read music fluently--though I am sure he picked up tidbits over the years just through osmosis--would have been a hindrance to him, because his approach to both harmony singing and bass playing was unorthodox.
I'm sure men will roll their eyes at this analogy, but one way to think of Rick's approach to harmony is to liken it to "lowlights"--yes, as in hair coloring--as opposed to "highlights." He kind of took the opposite approach of most harmony singers--his harmonies were almost like an additional melody line, on top of the main melody line, which accounted for the melancholy vibe or, as he put it in a flustered interview response, "my queasy sound."
Hope this helps a bit...for now.
Happy Holidays
Just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year filled with peace, joy, and love.
Thank you all for visiting this site, and for keeping Rick's music and his legacy alive. I like to think of him kicking back on a big, fluffy cloud up there, smoking a Merit, strumming his Takamine (and probably flirting with all the female angels), and sending out a big hug to all of you.
Thank you all for visiting this site, and for keeping Rick's music and his legacy alive. I like to think of him kicking back on a big, fluffy cloud up there, smoking a Merit, strumming his Takamine (and probably flirting with all the female angels), and sending out a big hug to all of you.
Check out The "The Band" Band in Woodstock on December 27
I have to admit, I have a hard time saying their name: The The Band Band. Seems like it should just be The BAND Band. But that's neither here nor there--I'm just finicky about syntax.
That said, the fact is The Band no longer exists as a live performing entity and, from everything I've heard, these guys are as close as it gets to the real thing. Aside from the authenticity of the music, the group is doing what they do--performing the music of The Band--not to emulate them, but to honor them and to keep the music alive.
I've not seen them yet myself, but founding member Gary Solomon, who plays bass and sings, has been kind enough to invite me to see the group, and I hope to meet them soon. I have heard from others, though, that the similarities are uncanny. As I believe I've mentioned before, my friend Phil Ciganer, who owns the Towne Crier in Pawling, New York, where Rick played regularly for many years, says that, if you close your eyes when The The Band Band performs, you can easily picture Rick, Levon, Richard, Garth, and Robbie onstage.
"I’ve been a fan of The Band since I was a teenager," says Solomon. "The first album I owned was Stage Fright. As a young bass player, I was tremendously influenced by Rick Danko’s unique style." Keyboardist and lifelong Band fan Jack Kraft was similarly influenced by the great Garth Hudson. "Jack and I were sitting around playing Band songs one night in February, 2007, when the idea came to us to get a guitar player and drummer, and play the songs like the recordings," Solomon recalls. "Vinny Nicosia joined us on drums. We later added Josh Radin on guitar and mandolin, and Mike Corbin on guitar and keyboards. We all share in the singing." The The Band Band's first gig was in August, 2007, and since then, says Solomon, "It’s taken on a life of its own. For us, it’s beyond fun. It’s joyous."
Ask any club owner who's booked the group and he or she will tell you that audience response has been fabulous. "There are a lot of Band fans coming out to hear us because they know how great the music of The Band is," says Solomon. "It’s timeless, and fans have been missing it."
If you haven't yet seen The The Band Band perform, what better place to catch them than in Woodstock, New York, "a town synonymous with The Band," says Solomon, at the Colony Cafe on December 27. The The Band Band is dedicating the show to Rick, since it takes place two days before his birthday. "To play in Woodstock is pretty special. Levon and Garth still live there. It's sacred ground."
What a nice way to remember Rick and to celebrate the music of The Band.
The The Band Band
Saturday, December 27, 2008
at The Colony Cafe
22 Rock City Road
Woodstock, NY
845-679-5342
Showtime: 8:30 pm
Cover: $15
For more information, check out The The Band Band's website, The The Band Band
That said, the fact is The Band no longer exists as a live performing entity and, from everything I've heard, these guys are as close as it gets to the real thing. Aside from the authenticity of the music, the group is doing what they do--performing the music of The Band--not to emulate them, but to honor them and to keep the music alive.
I've not seen them yet myself, but founding member Gary Solomon, who plays bass and sings, has been kind enough to invite me to see the group, and I hope to meet them soon. I have heard from others, though, that the similarities are uncanny. As I believe I've mentioned before, my friend Phil Ciganer, who owns the Towne Crier in Pawling, New York, where Rick played regularly for many years, says that, if you close your eyes when The The Band Band performs, you can easily picture Rick, Levon, Richard, Garth, and Robbie onstage.
"I’ve been a fan of The Band since I was a teenager," says Solomon. "The first album I owned was Stage Fright. As a young bass player, I was tremendously influenced by Rick Danko’s unique style." Keyboardist and lifelong Band fan Jack Kraft was similarly influenced by the great Garth Hudson. "Jack and I were sitting around playing Band songs one night in February, 2007, when the idea came to us to get a guitar player and drummer, and play the songs like the recordings," Solomon recalls. "Vinny Nicosia joined us on drums. We later added Josh Radin on guitar and mandolin, and Mike Corbin on guitar and keyboards. We all share in the singing." The The Band Band's first gig was in August, 2007, and since then, says Solomon, "It’s taken on a life of its own. For us, it’s beyond fun. It’s joyous."
Ask any club owner who's booked the group and he or she will tell you that audience response has been fabulous. "There are a lot of Band fans coming out to hear us because they know how great the music of The Band is," says Solomon. "It’s timeless, and fans have been missing it."
If you haven't yet seen The The Band Band perform, what better place to catch them than in Woodstock, New York, "a town synonymous with The Band," says Solomon, at the Colony Cafe on December 27. The The Band Band is dedicating the show to Rick, since it takes place two days before his birthday. "To play in Woodstock is pretty special. Levon and Garth still live there. It's sacred ground."
What a nice way to remember Rick and to celebrate the music of The Band.
The The Band Band
Saturday, December 27, 2008
at The Colony Cafe
22 Rock City Road
Woodstock, NY
845-679-5342
Showtime: 8:30 pm
Cover: $15
For more information, check out The The Band Band's website, The The Band Band
Nine Years Without Rick
Nine years ago today, Rick Danko was taken from us. Everyone who loved him died a little death that day and Woodstock was drenched with tears. But it wasn't just Woodstock that mourned--Rick had people all over the world who loved him.
Personally, I've never been able to say goodbye to Rick, and I never will--I don't see a need. I can't see his smile or laugh at his jokes or listen to his chuckle or hear that familiar loud asthmatic breathing that arrived in a room a couple seconds before he did. But I do feel his presence, and I know that, somehow, somewhere, some way, his spirit lives.
Rick is alive in his music, and in the love of his family, friends, and fans.
Please remember him today in your own special way.
Coming December 10...A New BandBite
Volume II of BandBites will continue December 10 with an interview that I had a lot of fun doing. Brothers Bill Scheele and John Scheele, both of whom were involved with The Band during a very creative period, beginning in 1969, will talk about the recording of Stage Fright, The Basement Tapes cover shoot, Festival Express, and more.
I thought it would be a fitting way to remember Rick on the ninth anniversary of his passing. Please be sure to check The Band Site "What's New" Page on the 10th to see it, along with some cool photos taken by John.
*NOTE: The posting of this BandBites interview has been postponed until later this month.
I thought it would be a fitting way to remember Rick on the ninth anniversary of his passing. Please be sure to check The Band Site "What's New" Page on the 10th to see it, along with some cool photos taken by John.
*NOTE: The posting of this BandBites interview has been postponed until later this month.
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